Tightening up while losing weight...

forlaura wrote: »

Could someone tell me what the best exercises are to help tighten up while I’m losing the rest of my weight. I have “loose” skin from having babies already and don’t want it to get worse. Thanks!

General exercise (strength and cardio) plus nutrition for health (thus healthy skin tissue), and patience, is the best you've got. Don't worry toooo much: Many of us look a bit worse midway through losing, then a bit better at goal, and even better than that a few months to a couple of years after reaching goal.

Reason? Fat can deplete unevenly through the fat mass, not just starting from the outside layer and proceeding neatly inward as we might wish. The result is a period of time with a fat mass that gets more squishy/floppy, and conspires with gravity to keep skin stretched. (Think of a water balloon partly full of water (no air) vs. a completely full water balloon. More floppy/droopy.) At goal, with most of the fat mass depleted, the true loose skin is thin wrinkles (like in fabric, not 1/2" plus rolls), and can actually shrink . . .which then takes a while, because skin shrinkage is slower than fat loss.

I usually recommend that worried people go take a look over in the "Success Stories" forum. People have loose skin, but even after truly massive weight loss, I think it's usually less than most people new to weight loss visualize and worry about. Many posts in that area have before/after photos in fairly revealing clothing like swimwear, and some talk very honestly about loose skin.

My loose skin kept shrinking well into my 2nd year of maintenance, even at age 60+. At the risk of getting graphic, my rear view started out looking like a shar-pei puppy's face, and ended up looking like a pretty reasonable li'l ol' lady rear end.

Besides, clothing hides a lot, thin with some loose skin looks way better than obesity, and thin feels so. much. better. . . in so many ways. Take heart!

AnnPT77 wrote: »

forlaura wrote: »

Could someone tell me what the best exercises are to help tighten up while I’m losing the rest of my weight. I have “loose” skin from having babies already and don’t want it to get worse. Thanks!

General exercise (strength and cardio) plus nutrition for health (thus healthy skin tissue), and patience, is the best you've got. Don't worry toooo much: Many of us look a bit worse midway through losing, then a bit better at goal, and even better than that a few months to a couple of years after reaching goal.

Reason? Fat can deplete unevenly through the fat mass, not just starting from the outside layer and proceeding neatly inward as we might wish. The result is a period of time with a fat mass that gets more squishy/floppy, and conspires with gravity to keep skin stretched. (Think of a water balloon partly full of water (no air) vs. a completely full water balloon. More floppy/droopy.) At goal, with most of the fat mass depleted, the true loose skin is thin wrinkles (like in fabric, not 1/2" plus rolls), and can actually shrink . . .which then takes a while, because skin shrinkage is slower than fat loss.

I usually recommend that worried people go take a look over in the "Success Stories" forum. People have loose skin, but even after truly massive weight loss, I think it's usually less than most people new to weight loss visualize and worry about. Many posts in that area have before/after photos in fairly revealing clothing like swimwear, and some talk very honestly about loose skin.

My loose skin kept shrinking well into my 2nd year of maintenance, even at age 60+. At the risk of getting graphic, my rear view started out looking like a shar-pei puppy's face, and ended up looking like a pretty reasonable li'l ol' lady rear end.

Besides, clothing hides a lot, thin with some loose skin looks way better than obesity, and thin feels so. much. better. . . in so many ways. Take heart!

@AnnPT77 Sometimes I skim through and read posts without taking note of the poster's name. When it's a really helpful or insightful post, I'm like dang that's good, who wrote this? It's often your name at the top. You always share solid info, & well explained!